COMPETITIONS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1906, 14 November 1913, Page 5

COMPETITIONS.

THE CHORAL CONTEST. WIN FOR FEILDING CHOIR; A most interesting day was passed at tho competitions at the Town Hall yesterday, aud the attendances, if not over largo, were satisfactory. In the afternoon the ladies attended in fair numbers at the largo hall, where the children's dancing, .was the source of. attraction. Preceding these contests were vocal tests .for ladies and for gentlemen bass singers. In tho Concert Chamber sixteen young ladies' recited, with more or less understanding, Byron's ."1101l On, Thou Deep and Dark Blue Ocean." The poem affords fino scope for tho reciter, but out of the sixteen who essayed its delivery, .there were only three or four who acquitted themselves in any way crcdit- ■ ably. . . . - The following are tho results of the Various competitions:— PREPARED SPEECH. Prepared Speech (ladies or gentle-' men). Time.limit, B.minutes. Choice' of three subjects: ' (1)■ International peace, is it.practicalor desirable? (2) Can a man m a keen competitive business be successful and at the sariro time remain absolutely honest ahd truthful? (3) Is the imposition of a. tax on bachelors advisable in view, of the declining birth rate, and in' what way could the proceeds bo best appliod? First prize, £2; second, £1. Entrants—Mr. L. "W, Hanlon, Wellington ; Mr. Henry E. Mostbn, Wanganui; Mr. Clifford B. Holmes, Palmerston North; Mr. E. F. Luks, Welling-, ton. .■•'■■■ . The winner, stated Mr. Baeyertz, was absolutely sincere in all ho had said. He had, however, made a number of technical slips. The second-placed speaker was making considerable strides in speaking, but he, too, had a number of technical defects in his address. Result—l, Mr. Moston, 106 marks; 2, Mr. Hanlon, 104 marks; 3, Mr. Luks,' 93 marks. ' LADIES' RECITATION. Recitation (ladies)— Test piece: "The Ocean," Byron. Four verses only, as in text book; (b) "Break, ' Break, Break," Tennyson. No competitor can qualify for the championship unless she competes' in this section. First prize, £4; second,.£l 10s. Entrants—Miss Alice Quinney, Wellington; Miss May Ma v son, Wellington; Miss Janie Petrio, Wellington; Misß Mario Fix, Wellington; Miss Flora M'Donald, Wellington; Miss Mabel J. ■Kelly, Wanganui; Miss Lilian Priehard, •Melbourne; Miss C. .Graham, Masterton; Miss Paulino Brown, Otaki; Mrs. Chas.. E. Watson, Wellington; Miss 'Florence/ Sander, Wellington; Mrs. B. Iveson, Masterton; Miss Ada Marie Moller, Wellington'; Miss Gwen D. Shepherd, Wellington; Miss Maude Low, 'Lyall Bay; Miss Kathleen Dixon, Lyall ■Bay. ' ■ .'. ';

"In marked contrast to the gentlemen's section," said the judge, Mr. Baeyertz, "this has 'been a very disappointing section. I will only make ' .two recalls for it. ,' Tho third prize. I .will award to Miss M'Donald. Recalls—Misses Pricliard and Brown. Result.—l; Miss P. Brown; 2,, Miss Pricliard; 3, Miss M'Donald. . ■_-/ K . ■ HIGHLAND FLING. ' ■ • ■ ' Highland Fling '-, (under 16).; First, prize,.'silver medal; , second, brohzo Medal. ...■,<• . •' •-.iWiiliara- iWellingtoii'^'MisS-.'Alicb"'CampellpWel-lington; Miss Ine Rogers, Wellington; Miss.Violet Campbell,■ Wellington; Miss Marjorie M'Gillivray; Wellington; Master JaclrFpthe'rgill/Uppe'r Hutt;'Miss Dorothy; Davison, Upper. Hutt; Miss >'Jano Jelley, .Wellington;. Miss Thiirg'a' •Rogers, -Wellington; Miss .Peggy i Reeves, .Wellington; Miss Lizzie ,Rcid, Wellington; -Miss: Mary Reid, Wellington; Miss ,L. ,o'Leary, and Master Colin. Shaw.';' This \was'a far. more; interesting contest to, watch,- remarked the judge (Mrs. ; J; Hannah),, than those contests of Saturday." -~' Misses. Peggy; Reeves and-Thurga Rogers had- given very artistic performances, but their-dahcing .had not the real Highland flavour about it. The judge highly commended Misses V. Campbell, M'Gillivray. Davison, and Jelley. . Recalls—Misses A. Campbell, Ine Rogers, M. Reid, and Master Rogers. _ Result— 1, Master Rogers; 2, Miss Reid; 3, Miss Inez Rogers. Miss Camp•oeJi was highly commended.' GRACEFUL DANCE. Graceful Danco (girls under 16). First prize, books to th© valuo of £1 10s.; fiecond, 10s. ' ; Entrants—Miss H. E. M'Hardie, Otaki; Miss Maria A. Wilson, OtaKi: Miss Peggy Reeves, Wellington; Miss iWyonne Haybittle, Wellington; aliss ■Thurga Rogers, Wellington; Miss Lizzie Reid, Wellington; Miss Jane Jelley, Wellington. , , . Recalls—Misses Reeves, Haybittle, Rogers, Reid, and Jelley. • Result.—l, Miss Haybittlo; 2,' Miss IT. Rogors; 3, Miss'Campbell. BASS SOLO. Bass Solo—Test piece: "Son of ' Mine," Key D. Wallace. First prizo, ■ £1; second, 10s. . . Entrants—Mr. D. P. M. ,Bennet, Wellingtons Mr.' Fred. Grayton, Wellington; Mr. James H. Callan, Blenheim; Mr. Arthur Watts, Onelranga; Mr. Frank Tunley, Wellington. Recalls—Messrs. Grayton, Watts, and Tunley. .Result—l, Mr, Tunley, 113 marks; 2, Mr. Watts, 112 marks; 3, Mr; Grhyton, 110 marks. MEZZO-SOPRANO SOLO. Mezzo-Soprano Sold. Test piece, cither Er derherrlichsten von alien," Schumann in E Flat, or "Im Herbst." I'ranz (Original key).' First prize, £2; second, £1. ' Entrants— Miss Maude Pitcher, Dunedin; Miss Margaret Ellen Wilson, AVellington. . Recalls— Misses ritcher and Wilson. Rosult.-l, Miss Wilson; 2, Miss Pitcher. '.. LADIES' SONG. / Song (lady). Own selection, not hu-, jiiorous.. Open only to competitors who havo been resident in Province for the preceding 18 mouths. First prize, £1 10s.; second, 16s. Entrants—Miss Margaret Ellen Wilson, Wellington ("Tho'Wreatli"); Mis. lvo Symos, AYanganui ("The Sands of Deo'); Miss Dorothv Jones, Wclliii"ton ("Oh, Flower of the World"). Result.—l, Mrs. Syines; 2, Miss Wilson. THE EVENING'S CONCERT. The smaller items at'the evening con:ert were naturally overshadowed somewhat by, the choral contest. The items were made up of tho finals from tho morning's tests, and wero most enjoyable. • THE CHORAL TEST. In the evening tho hall was well tilled, the main interest, of course, being centred in the grand choral test. There wero four entrants:—Tho Wellington Glee and Madrigal Club (Mr. M'Langhlin, conductor); tho Grafton Koad ' Choral Union (Mr. E. J. Gotland, conductor); tho AVellington Amateur Choral Club (Madame Mueller, conductor); the Feilding Wesley Choir (Mr. Temple White, conductor). The number maximum voices allowed, exclusive of conductor, was sixty. There wero two test pieces, "J3y Babylon's Wave" (Gounod), and a test piece of & secular character, selected by each choir. The

first prize was presented by the Dresden Piano Co., and was £50 and a song or pianoforte piece to each member of tho wiuning clioir. The second prizo was £15.

"The winner to-night," stated Mr. Baeyertz in giving the decision arrived at independently by himself and Mr. Harold Gregson, "has won by a moro substantial majority than tho. successful choir last night, and has given a very delightful performance indeed." Mr. Baeyertz then announced the result of the contest as follows:—

1. Fcilcling Wesley Choir, test piece, 152 ■marks; own selection, ISO marks; total, 308 marks.

1 2. Grafton Head Choral Union, tost piece, 139 marks; own selection, 141 marks; total, 280 marks. 3. Wellington Glee and Madrigal Club, test piece, 127 marks; own selection, 119 marks; total, 246 marks. ' 4. Wellington Amateur Choral Union, test piece, 107 marks; own selection, 110 mark?; totals, 217 marks. The first choir to sing in tho test piece was tho Wellington Glee and Madrigal Clnb. Taken as a whole, tho rendering was a very good one. The tenors were weak, and tljo basses in places too prominent. The sopranos wero thin in quality. The selected piece,' "In this Hour of Softened Splendour," wa3 given more expressively. Tho Auckland choir performed subsequently. The sdpranos wero rather hard and metallic in the tes't piece. The opening was excellent, but towards tho end grew more uncertain, both in tone and blending. The solocted pieco was, "Moonlight," but in this tho voices failed to blend well, and tho tenors wero inclined to dominate at times.

Ihe quality of the voices in the second Wellington choir was poor. Tho lead by the basses to the fugue in tho test piece was poor and uncertain. In the selected item, "Come to Me, Gentle Slecp,"_ the choir missed somewhat tho true effect of the pieco. - Far and away superior to their predecessors, was the rendering by the I'eliding choir, hi tho test piece tho voices blended beautifully, tho fugue was taken excellently, and the whole effect was most pleasing. "The Parting Kiss," the selected item, was very effectively given. At the conclusion of the contest the four, choirs massed together and rendered tho test piece, "By Babylon's Wave." Mr. Christian Hel'lemann conducted, while Mr. Harold Gregson was at the organ. For an impromptu massing of such a large collection of voices the resultant ■ rendition was excellent. The fine volume of sound at the double fortissimo passages, with sw-elhng notes ot the organ as a background, was very hue indeed.

TO-ITAY'S PROCRAMME. ' To-day's programme is one of the most interesting yet offered, and the variety 11 th t,! tests / saoulcl meet tho tastes of all. They commence at half-past 'nine o clock in tho morning, with recitation for- boys. Then follows the dramatic character sketch, a most-interesting contest, m which there have been thirteen entries. The impromptu speech contests for ladies and gentlemen are expected to bo most interesting. In the large Town Hall there are the gentlemen's vocal solo and pianoforte solo contests.

J lie evening's programme is a very attractive one, the main item of interest being the juvenile choral contest for winch .there arc three entrants. Tho gentlemen's impromptu humorous speech contest is looked to to provide a, good deal of amusement, a good deal of amusement. The playing, too, of George Bernard Shaw's delightful, comedietta, "How He Lied ;to Her Husband,",- is- sure to be of •great interest.